Relocation

Compare Black Hills Communities

25 towns and unincorporated communities. Pick two to four and the full table appears underneath. Commutes are driving times to the Ellsworth main gate and downtown Rapid City. Median sold prices, where we have them, come from the MLS over the trailing twelve months with the source, window and sale count printed under each figure. Typical price bands are practical search ranges, not medians, and are labelled separately.

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Under $400k Close to Ellsworth Close to Rapid City Short commute New construction available Acreage available City water and sewer Smaller market More rural Established housing Newer housing Clear filters Clear everything

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What changes

Between Edgemont, Keystone, Summerset

The rows below are the ones where these do not read the same. Ordered as the table runs, not by importance.

Region: EdgemontCentral and Southern HillsKeystoneCentral and Southern HillsSummersetRapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
County: EdgemontFall River CountyKeystonePennington CountySummersetMeade County
Jurisdiction: EdgemontIncorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.KeystoneIncorporated town of Keystone, with unincorporated Pennington County on the surrounding hillsides.SummersetCity of Summerset, incorporated July 2005
Corridor: EdgemontUS 18 and SD 471KeystoneUS 16ASummersetI-90
To downtown Rapid City: EdgemontAbout 100 miles northeastKeystoneAbout 25 minutes northeastSummerset15 min, 10.0 mi
To Ellsworth AFB: EdgemontAbout 110 milesKeystoneAbout 40 minutesSummerset30 min, 19.2 mi

Side by side

Edgemont, Keystone, Summerset

Rows marked as differing are the ones where these do not read alike. Rows without the mark sit on a quiet background because they say the same thing in every column.

The selected Black Hills communities compared on location, housing, utilities, schools, daily errands, mapped subdivisions and the trade each one asks for
Attribute	Central and Southern HillsEdgemont	Central and Southern HillsKeystone	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorSummerset
Where it sits
Regiondiffers	Central and Southern Hills	Central and Southern Hills	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
Countydiffers	Fall River County	Pennington County	Meade County
JurisdictiondiffersCity versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work.	Incorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.	Incorporated town of Keystone, with unincorporated Pennington County on the surrounding hillsides.	City of Summerset, incorporated July 2005
Corridordiffers	US 18 and SD 471	US 16A	I-90
To downtown Rapid Citydiffers	About 100 miles northeastDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.	About 25 minutes northeastDriving time and distance, off peak.	15 min, 10.0 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
To Ellsworth AFBdiffers	About 110 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.	About 40 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.	30 min, 19.2 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Winter drivingdiffers	Cold semi-arid country with a recorded low of 40 below. US 18 is the lifeline and it is a long way to anywhere in a storm.	Black Hills elevation on canyon roads, and a town that empties out for the season. Iron Mountain Road and the scenic routes are not winter commuting roads.	The commute is I-90, so winter driving here is interstate driving rather than a two lane canyon road.
Housing and lots
Typical pricediffers	About $155,000 average sold, 13 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $155,285. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 13 closed sales.	About $618,000 average sold, but only 9 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $618,449. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 9 closed sales, small sample.	Builder inventory sets the level here, and the MLS publishes no Summerset median on its own.
Housing agediffers	An 1890 railroad town, so mostly older stock, with about a quarter of units vacant at the 2020 count.	An 1883 mining town, so genuinely old stock alongside newer builds and cabins.	Mostly 2000s to present
New constructiondiffers	None underway	Limited, mostly infill and small projects	Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Acreagediffers	Acreage parcels are common here	Some acreage, mostly platted town lots	Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.
Typical lotdiffers	Town lots inside the limits, ranch scale outside them.	Small and steep in town, larger on the surrounding hillsides outside the limits.	Wide lots on new streets
Covenants and HOAdiffersCovenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel.	Few plats here carry recorded covenants	Few plats here carry recorded covenants	Recorded covenants on some plats, none on others
Utilities and rules
Utility patterndiffers	City water and sewer inside the limits	Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it	Sewer collection is provided by the City of Summerset. Water service varies by address and can include Black Hawk Water User District or Diamond D Water in Sun Valley.
Waterdiffers	City of Edgemont municipal water. Rural parcels are on private wells.	Town of Keystone municipal water inside the limits, drawn from town wells, with no violations on its current record. Parcels outside the town limits are on private wells.	Black Hawk Water User District, or Diamond D Water in Sun Valley
Sewerdiffers	City sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels.	Confirm with the town before you rely on it. The town operates public works, but I have not been able to verify from the public record whether it runs a collection system or which parcels it reaches. Outside the limits, expect private septic.	City of Summerset
Short term rentalsdiffers	Edgemont is not a tourism town. Short-term rental demand here is work crews, hunting season and Rally traffic passing through, not visitors staying to see something.	A 2 percent municipal lodging tax applies to transient stays. Whether a separate short term rental ordinance exists is not clear from the public record, so confirm with the town in writing.	The thinnest rules on this list, which means a rental plan has to be pinned down for the specific address.
Schools
School districtdiffers	Edgemont School District 23-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.	Hill City School District 51-2Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.	Meade 46-1 and Rapid City Area Schools 51-4, split within the cityAssignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Daily errands
Groceriesdiffers	Small-town grocery and convenience in Edgemont, with Hot Springs about 35 miles east for more.	Nothing full service in town. Hill City is the closest small grocery and Rapid City is the real shopping, about 25 minutes northeast.	Not recorded in this guide. Check what is open near the address.
Healthcarediffers	No hospital in town. Fall River Health Services in Hot Springs is a 25 bed critical access hospital with a 24 hour emergency department.	No clinic in town. Monument Health Custer Hospital has a 24 hour emergency department, and Rapid City has the larger hospital.	Hospital-level care is in Rapid City, about 15 minutes south.
Recreationdiffers	The hundred-year-old city park, the campground, the Elk Mountains and open country in every direction.	Mount Rushmore is past the town boundary, the 1880 Train runs from the Winter Street depot, and Custer State Park and the Norbeck Scenic Byway are close.	Leisure Lane, Steamboat and Castlewood parks are the everyday recreation. Leisure Lane is the big one, with playgrounds, basketball, picnic shelters, open grass and the community garden.
Mapped subdivisions
Outlines on filediffers	No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.	No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.	2 mapped outlines, 2 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls.
The trade
Housing and patterndiffers	A working BNSF crew-change town founded in 1890, at the far southern edge of the Hills below the Elk Mountains.	An 1883 mining camp turned tourism town at the gateway to Mount Rushmore, 240 residents and millions of visitors.	New streets and builder inventory, with Highlands at Norman Ranch adding over 100 first phase homesites across more than 300 acres.
What you gaindiffers	More town per dollar than anywhere else in the region, with its own school district and city utilities.	Nightly rental demand runs about as high as anywhere in the Black Hills, if the rules and the covenants check out for the specific property.	Newer houses on city sewer with Hills views at a price central Rapid City does not offer, and Highlands at Norman Ranch is still selling first phase homesites.
What you give updiffers	A hundred miles from Rapid City, 35 from a hospital, with two unresolved questions hanging over the local economy.	A seasonal town with no school, no grocery and no clinic, and a housing stock where half the doors are dark in winter.	You are fifteen minutes out from most of Rapid City's services and you drive I-90 to get to them in the winter. The city is also split between Meade 46-1 and Rapid City Area Schools 51-4, so the district follows the address.

Central and Southern HillsEdgemont
Central and Southern HillsKeystone
Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorSummerset

Where it sits

Regiondiffers

Edgemont: Central and Southern Hills
Keystone: Central and Southern Hills
Summerset: Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor

Countydiffers

Edgemont: Fall River County
Keystone: Pennington County
Summerset: Meade County

Jurisdictiondiffers

City versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work.

Edgemont: Incorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.
Keystone: Incorporated town of Keystone, with unincorporated Pennington County on the surrounding hillsides.
Summerset: City of Summerset, incorporated July 2005

Corridordiffers

Edgemont: US 18 and SD 471
Keystone: US 16A
Summerset: I-90

To downtown Rapid Citydiffers

Edgemont: About 100 miles northeastDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Keystone: About 25 minutes northeastDriving time and distance, off peak.
Summerset: 15 min, 10.0 miDriving time and distance, off peak.

To Ellsworth AFBdiffers

Edgemont: About 110 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Keystone: About 40 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Summerset: 30 min, 19.2 miDriving time and distance, off peak.

Winter drivingdiffers

Edgemont: Cold semi-arid country with a recorded low of 40 below. US 18 is the lifeline and it is a long way to anywhere in a storm.
Keystone: Black Hills elevation on canyon roads, and a town that empties out for the season. Iron Mountain Road and the scenic routes are not winter commuting roads.
Summerset: The commute is I-90, so winter driving here is interstate driving rather than a two lane canyon road.

Housing and lots

Typical pricediffers

Edgemont: About $155,000 average sold, 13 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $155,285. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 13 closed sales.
Keystone: About $618,000 average sold, but only 9 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $618,449. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 9 closed sales, small sample.
Summerset: Builder inventory sets the level here, and the MLS publishes no Summerset median on its own.

Housing agediffers

Edgemont: An 1890 railroad town, so mostly older stock, with about a quarter of units vacant at the 2020 count.
Keystone: An 1883 mining town, so genuinely old stock alongside newer builds and cabins.
Summerset: Mostly 2000s to present

New constructiondiffers

Edgemont: None underway
Keystone: Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Summerset: Limited, mostly infill and small projects

Acreagediffers

Edgemont: Acreage parcels are common here
Keystone: Some acreage, mostly platted town lots
Summerset: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.

Typical lotdiffers

Edgemont: Town lots inside the limits, ranch scale outside them.
Keystone: Small and steep in town, larger on the surrounding hillsides outside the limits.
Summerset: Wide lots on new streets

Covenants and HOAdiffers

Covenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel.

Edgemont: Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Keystone: Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Summerset: Recorded covenants on some plats, none on others

Utilities and rules

Utility patterndiffers

Edgemont: City water and sewer inside the limits
Keystone: Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
Summerset: Sewer collection is provided by the City of Summerset. Water service varies by address and can include Black Hawk Water User District or Diamond D Water in Sun Valley.

Waterdiffers

Edgemont: City of Edgemont municipal water. Rural parcels are on private wells.
Keystone: Town of Keystone municipal water inside the limits, drawn from town wells, with no violations on its current record. Parcels outside the town limits are on private wells.
Summerset: Black Hawk Water User District, or Diamond D Water in Sun Valley

Sewerdiffers

Edgemont: City sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels.
Keystone: Confirm with the town before you rely on it. The town operates public works, but I have not been able to verify from the public record whether it runs a collection system or which parcels it reaches. Outside the limits, expect private septic.
Summerset: City of Summerset

Short term rentalsdiffers

Edgemont: Edgemont is not a tourism town. Short-term rental demand here is work crews, hunting season and Rally traffic passing through, not visitors staying to see something.
Keystone: A 2 percent municipal lodging tax applies to transient stays. Whether a separate short term rental ordinance exists is not clear from the public record, so confirm with the town in writing.
Summerset: The thinnest rules on this list, which means a rental plan has to be pinned down for the specific address.

Schools

School districtdiffers

Edgemont: Edgemont School District 23-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Keystone: Hill City School District 51-2Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Summerset: Meade 46-1 and Rapid City Area Schools 51-4, split within the cityAssignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.

Daily errands

Groceriesdiffers

Edgemont: Small-town grocery and convenience in Edgemont, with Hot Springs about 35 miles east for more.
Keystone: Nothing full service in town. Hill City is the closest small grocery and Rapid City is the real shopping, about 25 minutes northeast.
Summerset: Not recorded in this guide. Check what is open near the address.

Healthcarediffers

Edgemont: No hospital in town. Fall River Health Services in Hot Springs is a 25 bed critical access hospital with a 24 hour emergency department.
Keystone: No clinic in town. Monument Health Custer Hospital has a 24 hour emergency department, and Rapid City has the larger hospital.
Summerset: Hospital-level care is in Rapid City, about 15 minutes south.

Recreationdiffers

Edgemont: The hundred-year-old city park, the campground, the Elk Mountains and open country in every direction.
Keystone: Mount Rushmore is past the town boundary, the 1880 Train runs from the Winter Street depot, and Custer State Park and the Norbeck Scenic Byway are close.
Summerset: Leisure Lane, Steamboat and Castlewood parks are the everyday recreation. Leisure Lane is the big one, with playgrounds, basketball, picnic shelters, open grass and the community garden.

Mapped subdivisions

Outlines on filediffers

Edgemont: No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
Keystone: No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
Summerset: 2 mapped outlines, 2 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls.

The trade

Housing and patterndiffers

Edgemont: A working BNSF crew-change town founded in 1890, at the far southern edge of the Hills below the Elk Mountains.
Keystone: An 1883 mining camp turned tourism town at the gateway to Mount Rushmore, 240 residents and millions of visitors.
Summerset: New streets and builder inventory, with Highlands at Norman Ranch adding over 100 first phase homesites across more than 300 acres.

What you gaindiffers

Edgemont: More town per dollar than anywhere else in the region, with its own school district and city utilities.
Keystone: Nightly rental demand runs about as high as anywhere in the Black Hills, if the rules and the covenants check out for the specific property.
Summerset: Newer houses on city sewer with Hills views at a price central Rapid City does not offer, and Highlands at Norman Ranch is still selling first phase homesites.

What you give updiffers

Edgemont: A hundred miles from Rapid City, 35 from a hospital, with two unresolved questions hanging over the local economy.
Keystone: A seasonal town with no school, no grocery and no clinic, and a housing stock where half the doors are dark in winter.
Summerset: You are fifteen minutes out from most of Rapid City's services and you drive I-90 to get to them in the winter. The city is also split between Meade 46-1 and Rapid City Area Schools 51-4, so the district follows the address.

Where this comes from

Commute figures are driving times off peak, from the community guide each card links to. Median sold prices come from the MLS, and each figure carries its own source, window and closing count, because Sturgis, Spearfish and the northern hills report through a different MLS than Rapid City. Under five closings there is no median, and the price row says so. Five to nine closings carries a small sample note. School districts follow the official boundary for the address, and the district office is the only place to confirm an assignment. Short term rental lines are summaries. Read the guide and the current ordinance before you count on rental income.

The filters use these definitions: under $400k is the MLS sold figure for the town, a median where one is published and otherwise the average sold, comes in under $400,000; close to ellsworth is 25 minutes or less to the Ellsworth main gate; close to rapid city is 20 minutes or less to downtown Rapid City; short commute is 15 minutes or less to either downtown Rapid City or the Ellsworth gate; new construction available is the guide establishes active or limited new construction; acreage available is acreage is common or present in the guide; city water and sewer is city water and sewer across the community; smaller market is fewer than 100 closed single family sales in the trailing twelve months; more rural is acreage is common, or water and sewer are not municipal throughout; established housing is the guide classifies the housing stock as established, meaning largely pre 2000; newer housing is the guide classifies a meaningful share of the housing stock as 2000s or later.

Every row here is a townwide summary and a single parcel can read differently. Buyer due diligence should include verifying water and sewer service, school assignment, recorded covenants and HOA obligations, rental rules, legal access, insurance availability and which jurisdiction inspects and permits the work, for the exact address. Confirm with the city or county, the utility or district, the school district office, the title company and your insurer as applicable.

Last updated August 2026

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ComparingEdgemont, Keystone, Summerset

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